Wednesday, February 24, 2016

Last week's getaway is in the books! We had a great time and I got a lot of things done. Not all 6 things that I brought but I made a good dent.
I found this star block in an old book. It has pictures but no directions how to put it together. I drafted my own block which is good because I want it to fit in a specific spot. I have started doing this because I like to rotate my quilts. Only the half square triangles on the right hand side are sewn on. I started getting bored and decided to stop plus I wanted to put it on my design wall to figure out how I wanted the triangles to go. The corners are going to get a white square.
I am looking forward to quilting this and want to do some "fancy" quilting in the big middle white spot!

This was my favorite project that I worked on. It required no measuring or anything precise.

I just randomly sewed my scraps together, no planning other than no same fabrics next to each other.

After I sewed things together I trimmed them up to get rid of the jagged edges. Sometime I just sewed over them, especially when I was getting tired.

Before you know it I had a bunch of strips.

They just kept getting bigger and bigger. I still have a ton of scraps!

I made another pincushion for the swap next week. I love that typewriter....

I started a paper pieced project but felt like I needed more room, so only 1 block got made. I will be going back to this one!

Fay Ann has been sewing for a long time and made some very cute kid's quilts. Every night she was the last one to bed! When I grow up I want to be as cool as Fay Ann!
Everyone agreed this was one of the best getaways. I am really lucky to have some really nice people to get away with!

Tuesday, February 16, 2016

As many of you know I love vintage things, both inspired and the real thing. Pyrex has released a line called Vintage Pyrex. While it does have a vintage feel, it is not as good as the real thing (the way it looks). I have the "real" blue polka dot bowl so I could compare. You can get these at Target but I could not find them in the store, only online. The good news is you can order them and they will deliver them to the store for free, no shipping!

This is a real vintage Florida dish towel that I used to make yet another Lola Pouch. I promise this is the last one. It is taller than the pattern directions but I could not bear to cut off the "Florida" or the palm trees. On the plus side I can fit a lot of things in it for my upcoming getaway. I even love that yellow on the flamingoes and decided the polka dots added to the vintage feel. Once I get the binding at the top sewn down I can fill up.
I really enjoy using vintage finds and will be doing more of this kind of sewing!
See you next week with a show and tell from our retreat. Let's see how many things I get done!

Monday, February 15, 2016

I am hooked on theseLola Pouches! They are so versatile and a really nice size to hold all your stuff!
I decided to make a hexie one for my hexies. It's fun picking out the fabrics!

I chose a bright, bright fabric for the inside that my friend Barb gave me. Look how pretty that zipper looks.....

I decided to make a pincushion to match the bag. This is the result and red won, the pink one will be a gift.

I have not done any hand applique in a while. I wanted a no frills, easy project. I designed a flower that requires no lines to follow. Jut cut out the pieces and fold under whatever seam allowance you want, to get a free form flower. I like that it is a little "off" and it is easy to do while watching TV. The circle is way more perfect than I thought it would be.

The only thing I know for sure is that the center will be that red dot fabric and the background will be low volume prints. For reference the block will be 11 1/2" finished, how is that for an odd ball size! I do have a template to sort of follow for the petals but everything else is cut free hand.

I also made this strawberry from an adorable fabric that is so delicate and feminine. I want to make a collection of these to display in a bowl.
Somedays small projects are just what I need to make myself feel productive. My annual retreat is coming up and I am busy preparing. How many projects do you bring to a retreat? I have about 6 because you never know what you are going to feel like working on. Some are big and some are small.
Next week I will have a post of the Zelda quilt, stay tuned!

Tuesday, February 9, 2016

I love this new pouch I made the other day. It's called the Lola Pouch by Sotak Handmade . It is the perfect size for all kinds of things. I made the larger one but there is a smaller one as well. I am hoping to make another one to store things for an upcoming retreat.
The one tip I will give you is, it is optional to quilt the outside fabric using a fusible fleece. Do it for a nice sturdy pouch that stands up well.

The other thing I like is that it opens real wide! Easy to get things in and out.

The inside is made with a vintage "art" fabric that is so cute!

The pattern was very easy and well written with good instructions. The zipper is nice the way it sits down within the binding. I love her examples too! I think these would make great gifts.

Right now I have stored my templates and paper pieces for the La Passacaglia quilt in my new pouch. A couple of friends and I have decided to take on this very, very long term project. I was planning on showing the ladies at our guild this tomorrow for our Member Demo day. Snow if forecasted so that may not happen. This is very uncharted waters for me as they are sewn together not as I thought.....it will teach me yet another new skill.

Friday, February 5, 2016

I was so excited to win these blocks the other night. I have 2 extra that I might make into a mini quilts. The pattern is by Amy Smart of Diary of a Quilter The block is called Be Good To Your Heart. I think this might be cute as a runner too!

I also signed up to be in a bee, the kind where you make a block for one of the participants each month and on your month everyone makes one for you. This was way outside my comfort zone as far as color goes and purple is a color I seldom use. I think it feels very spicey! I love the idea of challenging myself to break out and do something different.
Do you have colors you NEVER use?

Wednesday, February 3, 2016

Maybe I am developing a problem? I love pincushions. I like making them, I like how they look, and they are fun to collect. This one is going to be a gift, I think or maybe in the pincushion swap next month at the Lancaster MQG. It will depend on if I can come up with an idea I like. It's big 6" x 6".

A few weeks ago I showed my heart block that I made for the meeting last night. I won 18 blocks! Plenty for a nice quilt or maybe even a couple of table runners! The colors are so pretty and very modern!

I am also in a swap with some of the other members. These are the colors I am working with this month a bit of a stretch for me but I am up for the challenge. I will show you the block later this week. Purple is one of the colors, I had to dig deep in the stash for that one.

For my local readers I am doing a trunk show on Monday February 8th for my guild the Penn Oaks Quilt Guild The meeting starts at 7:00, for more information click on the link or send me an email.